The advent of the Internet and computer networking has enabled many technologies to be spread out over several computers. A common architecture for providing services is the client/server architecture, which typically locates the server on a network where it can be accessed by many clients. However, firewalls can interfere with communications between clients and servers. As well, mobile users can be separated from their home networks and can lose access to servers on their home networks. Another common architecture is a cloud architecture, which places services on the Internet. However, although cloud services exist for providing file storage, not all services provided on a home network can be provided using currently-available cloud services.
Additionally, the advent of cloud file storage architecture has led to the increasing storage of files in the cloud. In many cases, it is advantageous to collect and store metadata about files stored in the cloud, but no agreement exists on where to store the metadata.